Another great day of racing today saw two crews continue their march skywards, with bumps on Balliol from W1, and Brasenose II from M2. Here’s how it all happened!

M1: Rowed Over

Confidence was high as we sat on bungline. On the first day, we had repelled every push Catz had to offer, so much so that they gave up the chase at the top of Greenbanks and reduced their rate of striking to a paddle. We had a good start reaching rate 43 with ease, but it was clear that Catz were throwing everything at us as they gained half a length quite quickly. We sat back and kept them at bay at 3/4 of a length. After an amazing line in the gut by Ru, our cox, threading the needle between several stationary eights, we had pulled back out to 1 length. This lead only increased up Greenbanks to about 1.5-2 lengths. Catz’s questionable line coming onto boathouse island was negated by us having a particularly rough patch at Univ’s boathouse. Catz put in another very gutsy push and pulled back to a length but we kept that distance until the line. Although we didn’t row our best race today, we are looking forward to having a big 3 minutes to ram a falling Balliol boat tomorrow. Onwards!

Chris Jones – Five Seat

Stroke: Simon Zieleniewski
7: Henry Penrose
6: Steve Crabb (P)
5: Chris Jones
4: Simon Jacobi
3: Guy Pilbeam
2: Rob House
Bow: Mitch Fruin
Cox: Ruairidh South

W1: Bumped Balliol

The line up on the bunglines felt remarkably familiar for those of us who raced in Torpids this year. New College were behind us, this time wanting a revenge bump, and Balliol were ahead. This time we knew that we were faster than New, and that we had caught Balliol in Torpids. We were not complacent, though, and as we sat in the sunshine, we prepared ourselves for a tough race, hoping to catch Balliol somewhere along Greenbanks. As the start canon went, we went strongly through our start sequence, winding up the rate, and then did what was possibly our best stride all term, onto a long, strong rhythm. With New just close enough that we could push off them, we rowed hard and strong, moving us one stroke at a time towards Balliol. All of a sudden, just after passing under Donnington bridge, Joe called one length on Balliol and we heard Hannah’s whistle. Though taken by surprise at gaining on Balliol so early, we focused our minds and pushed harder on our legs. Hearing Hannah shout that they were running away, we were a bit concerned, but Joe was still calling half length, quarter length, overlap, so we pressed on even more. Finally the six-six-six call came… kind of… there was some confusion in the counting of the eighteen strokes, but we all gave everything we had and at the bottom of the gut, Joe called us to wind it down…. we had bumped!!! Ecstatic that we had not only lived up to but exceeded our expectations, bumping earlier than we had anticipated, we also knew that our rowing was cleaner than yesterday’s. We are all buzzing to chase Teddy Hall tomorrow and keep giving everything we’ve got!

Sarah Edwards – Three Seat

 

Stroke: Marie Becker (C)
7: Annie Taylor (VC)
6: Emma Lukasiewicz
5: Hannie Knox
4: Abie Witts
3: Sarah Edwards
2: Amy Holguin
Bow: Ros Martin
Cox: Joe Hitchen (CofC)

M2: Bumped Brasenose II

After having bumped Worcester M2 relatively quickly on the first day, something we had all secretly hoped would happen given the word on the grapevine about the state of Worcester’s boat club, we were getting psychologically ready for a much longer race. The sun was out and the fearsome stag-leggings came off to reveal the diverse unisuits, ranging from the vintage 2013 Merton-brown to the latest bright purple models. We paddled down to bung line 8 and got ready for the start. The gun went off, destroying what was left of our eardrums after the 5 and 1 minute blasts, and Gary’s calls to “SIT UP!!!” got us onto a clean rate 40 in the build, sending us towards Brasenose’s M2 faster than any of us had been expecting. As we passed under Donny Bridge the wash from their stern put our balance to the test, but, managing not to capsize and continuing to gain on them, they were eventually forced to concede. Great race overall and looking forward to the next one chasing Osler House, the medics’ crew. As our coach Simon rightly pointed out: “They could have six blues rowers, or they could just be a bunch of fat doctors. We don’t know.”

Milo Rignell – Two Seat

Stroke: Jong “least-scratched-bottle” Kwon
7: Jacob “lean-bean” Vivian
6: Charlie “most-scratched-bottle” Jackson
5: Toran “P.Diddy” Sharma
4: Alex “row-perfect” Allison (VC)
3: Jack “the axe” Waterman
2: Milo “no-bottle” Rignell
Bow: Ross “the-wise-one” Johnstone
Cox: Gary “7” Wu

W2: Bumped by Christ Church II

Having rowed over yesterday, our tactic for today was simple: bump or be bumped. Christ Church II had bumped Trinity II, and we knew they were a solid crew chasing us. “Give it all in the first 300m guys, thats our only chance” we had to get Magdalen this time, that was our only option. Standing proudly in our black Hertford t shirts, red and white socks, with red ribbons in our hair, we prepared ourselves for a few seconds of torture. When the blast sounded, we were off, a slower start than expected, but we quickly picked up the pace with long and determined strokes. “CATCH THERE, SIT TALL” Katie’s empowering screams drilled into us as we fought. Christ Church were gaining on us, it was worrying, but there was still hope of fighting for Magdalen. All before disaster struck. “F***!!”. Alex’s blade flew out of its gate, shooting away from her grip. It was all over. Katie steered us to one side as Christ Church pulled up behind us. Bumped. But we were proud. We’d still done our best. Dodgy W2 boat, with its dodgy gates, getting us again.

Miranda Ryan – Three Seat

Stroke: Ella Walsh
7: Nicollette Herrera
6: Kaja Fenn
5: Bridget Johns
4: Alexandra Kimmons
3: Miranda Ryan
2: Amy Grace Whitsey Franklin
Bow: Libera Assini
Cox: Katie Hiscocks

M3: Bumped by Balliol III

The sunny and warm Thursday promised to be an exciting day for the M3. We had our eccentric bowman back and ready to race, who promised to really put the pressure down this time. Oh, but what’s this? A screw from 6’s footplate fell off, just as we had left the boathouse. Not at all distracted, we performed a quick-repair and the mighty M3 was soon waiting for the gun on bung line 12. In front of us was St Hugh’s M2, trying to hold back their fear of us since the previous day’s row over. Sitting behind was the controversial Balliol M3. BANG! The gun fired without delay, and Hertford M3 quickly pushed off the start. In front of us chaos raved as boats bumped out, but our heads stayed in the boat. St Hugh’s M2 apparently made a mistake, closing down the gap between our two boats to only half of a length. But they were able to recover and quickly bumped out Linacre M2. Meanwhile, the boat behind us, Balliol M3, was rapidly gaining speed. We put down the pressure and tried to pull off. However, as we were making a manoeuvre at Donny Bridge, Balliol caught up with us and earned a bump. We will get revenge at Balliol tomorrow. Fear the Deer.

Kostas Laurinaitis – Two Seat

Stroke: Ali Duffey
7: Tobi Endlich
6: Patrick Austin
5: Matt Wilson
4: Rob Parkin-O’Brien
3: Gary Wu
2: Kostas Laurinaitis
Bow: Charles Wang
Cox: Joe Wynn